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Enrollment Policies and Process

Enrollment and Admission Process

What are the deadlines for the 2024-2025 school year that I should be aware of?

  • Application opens on October 1st.
  • February 15th is the first priority application deadline for the lottery.
  • February 16th is when the lottery will take place for students whose applications have been received.
  • The lottery results will be notified to families by Monday, March 4th, via call, email, or letter.
  • Families must confirm by Monday, April 1st, to give other families on the waitlist the opportunity to be accepted.

Important dates

  • October 1st
    Priority application opens for the upcoming school year. Apply online or call the school's office to arrange a time to visit.
  • February 16th
    Lottery to select new scholars. If we have more applications than available seats, scholars are placed on a waitlist.
  • March 4th – March 31st
    All applicants receive acceptance and wait-listed notices. Families have 14 business days to confirm enrollment for the upcoming school year.
  • Late Spring/Summer
    Applications are still accepted, and families are placed on a waitlist in the order they were received. Waitlisted applicants will be contacted as seats become available. Families who are on the waitlist enroll on a first-come, first-serve basis.

What is the open lottery process?

In the event that we receive more applicants than the seats available, Hiawatha is required to conduct a lottery.

  • In the event that it is needed, the lottery will take place on February 16th.
  • Families will be notified of their enrollment status after March 4th.
  • All new applications will be entered into the lottery. Enrollment will be determined based on the order selected from the lottery.

What is the order of enrollment preferences?

  1. Currently enrolled students: Receive primary enrollment preference and will not be entered into the lottery.
  2. Siblings or foster siblings of currently enrolled students: Siblings of currently enrolled students have preference before children of staff and general lottery applicants.
  3. Children of staff: Children of staff receive preference before general lottery applicants.
  4. General Lottery Enrollment: New student applications will be accepted on a rolling basis as long as spots remain open.

Order of admission preference

  • Currently enrolled students: Receive primary enrollment preference.
  • Siblings or foster siblings of currently enrolled students: Siblings of currently enrolled students have preference before children of staff and general lottery applicants. In the event of more siblings than spots available, a sibling lottery is held, and a sibling waiting list is established.
  • Children of staff: Children of staff receive preference before the prior year's waiting list for students and general lottery applicants. In the event of more children of staff applicants than spots available, a staff-children lottery is held, and a staff-children waiting list is established.
  • General Lottery Enrollment: In the event that there are more new applicants than spots available, a lottery will be conducted. New student applications must be submitted by February 15th to be considered for the general lottery. The lottery is conducted from highest grade to lowest grade to fill all available enrollment spots. The lottery is also continued in order to assign waitlist positions based on the order selected.
  • Siblings of enrolled students from the general lottery: In the event that a family has multiple siblings applying for more than one grade, sibling preference will apply as soon as enrollment is determined in the lottery grade. In the event a sibling waiting list exists, the sibling of the general lottery enrolled student will be added to the sibling waitlist based on the order selected.

  • Applications received after the February 15th deadline: Applications received after the February 15th deadline will be placed on the general waitlist on a first-come, first-served basis following the lottery process.

**In rare circumstances with board approval, the executive director has the authority to exceed enrollment capacity on a case-by-case basis.

Waitlist preference

Applications received after the February 15th deadline will be placed on the waitlist on a first come, first serve basis following the lottery process.

Completing enrollment

In order to confirm enrollment at Hiawatha Academies, guardians fill out the confirmation form electronically.

Commitments to Excellence contracts

At the time of enrollment, families who join Hiawatha Academies are asked to sign a Commitment to Excellence Contract for their chosen campus.

Though each school has its own Commitment to Excellence, the goal for each is the same: to outline expectations for parents/guardians and scholars in order to achieve our shared mission of nurturing scholars empowered with the knowledge, character, and leadership skills to graduate from college and serve the common good.

Providing Hiawatha Academies with student household information

Guardians are required to provide us with all their children's and household information pertaining to Hiawatha's policy and legal requirements. You can view the parent portal process called online registration online registration here.

Early Kindergarten Admission Eligibility

How old should my student be to be eligible for early kindergarten admission?

If your child turns 5 years old between September 2 and October 31, they become eligible for consideration for early admission into kindergarten based on the following procedures:
  1. Indicate on the application for admission that the student will turn five between September 2 and October 31.
  2. Submit an application by February 15th or before the Hiawatha Academies lottery.
  3. Complete the following steps outlined in the early kindergarten admission process

What is the early kindergarten admissions process?

Applications for early kindergarten admission will be considered immediately after Hiawatha’s general lottery. A child eligible for early kindergarten admission will be provisionally accepted, and admission will be granted after the family completes the following steps and it is determined that the child meets the criteria, and will be admitted if spot is available.

While a spot may be offered, enrollment is contingent on meeting the following criteria:

  1. If a student attends a preschool or childcare center, the parent must request the child’s preschool or childcare teacher to complete the early kindergarten admission readiness checklist and submit the results to the recruitment and admissions team staff member.
  2. Parents will fill out and submit a parent questionnaire in their home language either before the classroom observation or while the student is being assessed. 
  3. Classroom observation is conducted on the day assigned by the school before June 1st. The observation will be conducted by one or more participants of the early Kindergarten Admission team.
  4. After the classroom observation, the evaluation team observer will conduct an academic evaluation of the student, asking specific questions in the student's preferred home language.
  5. The Early Kindergarten Admission team will include the Principal or Assistant Principal, Kindergarten teacher, Network Psychologist, Admissions Director, and Senior Academic Officer.
  6. The team will assess the findings and make an initial admission decision and referral for standardized testing and evaluation with the network psychologist.
  7. The school Principal or Assistant Principal will contact the family to inform them of the screening and observation day results and make a referral for standardized evaluation if appropriate.
  8. Standardized evaluation times will be established before the screening date/s. The recruitment and admissions team will provide families who pass the initial screening with the dates and times of the standardized evaluation. Below are the assessments that will be used:

*Cognitive Ability Assessment:
Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children - Second Edition 

  1. Admission will be granted after the Network Psychologist has completed the assessments and has made a final recommendation to the Early Kindergarten Admission team
  2. Recruitment and Admissions will communicate to the family about the final results and admission decision.

What are my next steps for early childhood testing if my child turns 5 between September 2nd and October 31st?

While applying for our school:

  1. Indicate in the Hiawatha Academies application that the child turns five between September 2 and October 31.
  2. Connect with the recruitment and admissions team to understand the process of early kinder admission by calling them at 612-455-4004

If there is an open seat, our recruitment team will contact you to complete the following required steps to be completed by May 28th.

You can also find all admission and enrollment policies on our policies and publications page.

After my child is admitted to Hiawatha Academies

When is the first day of school?

Hiawatha Academies' first day of school is 3rd week of August. You will receive exact dates and information during the enrollment confirmation process.

Admittance during the school year

In the event that a spot is open after the first day of school but before the last day of school, and there is a child on a waitlist waiting to fill that spot, rolling enrollment will be limited to the following window, and during this window will always be on a “top of the waiting list first” basis. The window is from the first day of school to March 1st.

During the enrollment window, if a kindergarten applicant is selected off the waiting list to fill an available spot, the child must have attended another school or program that is subject to compulsory attendance during the school year.